Hacker help: SUNDVIK upgrade?

Materials: Sundvik crib and ?

Description: This is an help request more than an hack. I bought the new Sundvik crib for my baby girl due in June. After I got it, many friends pointed out that it hasn’t got the possibility to lower the side to make the bed every morning. Any suggestion on how to modify it so the side slides easily in a lower position or opens in any other way? Thanks hackers!

~ Claudia, Italy

Hey ClaudiaThis was done on the Sniglar but you may get some ideas for the Sundvik. See more.

The Author

Jules IKEAHacker "I am Jules, the engine behind IKEAHackers and the one who keeps this site up and running. My mission is to capture all the wonderful, inspiring, clever hacks and ideas for our much loved IKEA items".

40 Responses to Hacker help: SUNDVIK upgrade?

Wow, I hate to break it to all the folks on the SIDS soapbox, but you should really do your research and not just read pamphlets handed to you. Yes, it has declined by half… from a .002% risk to a .001% risk. In the 10 years before the the back to sleep campaign began the risk dropped from .005%. My point is there are so many more factors involved than types of cribs, blankets, and sleeping positions.
Get off this lady’s case for wanting a certain kind of crib. If she wants to make the bed daily, she is obviously not the type of parent to put her child into the crib if the system become compromised or feels unsafe. I have 4 children ranging from 7 months to 13 years. With each new child so many things have switched from dangerous to perfectly safe and back again, it’s almost dizzying. Families all over the world used drop sides for decades, in fact it was the the norm, and the human population still grew.

Wow, there are a lot of paranoid people on here. I think its sad that you all let your government decide what is best for you. Use your own brain for once. I mostly co-sleep, but there is a bumper, quilt, and stuffed animal in my crib. OMG! NO! I do agree that you should give the crib a chance, and decide as you go, what works best for you. I don’t know how high you can raise this mattress on this specific crib, but you could probably drill holes to lift it higher to your liking. Just keep in mind how much rail you want to leave. You really don’t need much for the first 4 months anyway. Good luck!

Wow, um, following safe sleeping guidelines is sad? SIDS rates have been cut in half since these guidelines came out. Losing a baby is sad…ignoring sleep safety guidelines just to stick it to the man is sad. Advising a person who is unskilled enough to need an Internet stranger to explain how to raise this crib is sad.

I won’t harp on the “its not safe” thing since that dead horse has been kicked enough times….

For changing the crib sheets quickly and easily, I use Quickzip sheets by Clouds and Stars. Kinda pricey as far as baby linens go, but you don’t need to remove the whole crib sheet to change it. You just unzip the top of the sheet and replace it.

Baby’s bed shouldn’t have anything more than a tightly fitted sheet on the mattress. All warmth should come from swaddles/sleeping bags, not blankets! Avoid a drop side, especially a hacked one by an inexperienced layman, and take proper precautions for your baby instead!!

Put the mattress in the highest position for the beginning, or invest in a bassinette that hooks on to the cot sides. These are suitable for the first four months (more or less depending on how your baby develops).

Drop side cots/cribs are not as safe as non-drop side, no matter how much they cost or how good they seem.

This does frustrate me; just because your government doesn’t have as progressive a stance on infant safety as another country, doesn’t mean you should be a complacent parent. I wish all parents would thoroughly investigate safe sleeping for their babies. JUST because it is sold, doesn’t mean it is safe!!!

Why not consider building a raised platform that sits in front of the cot, so you can stand up higher than the cot?

Wait until baby comes and see what works for your family. The biggest mistake new parents make is taking the advice of well-meaning friends as gospel, and trying to make one family’s habits and routines fit their own family.

For the same reason I won’t take as gospel any of the comments I had in this forum. I will think about them of course but still decide on my own! And seeing it the other way round “just because American government prohibited drop side cribs it doesn’t mean they are ABSOLUTELY unsafe!” Besides I grew up in a dropside crib with normal sheets as many Italians, and I bet also Americans (since when are this cribs not allowed there?), with no harm!

I think the declining rate of SIDS is proof enough that the way we were raised was not as safe, and that new safety measures and guidelines have serious merit. Just because you and I came to no harm, doesn’t mean no baby came to harm. At the end of the day I myself just couldn’t do something that could potentially harm or kill my child, especially something like a cot in which they sleep unsupervised, and definitely not for no other reason than to make life a bit easier for myself. You can’t make sure that your baby isn’t in the minority of babies killed by SIDS, but you CAN reduce your baby’s risk factors and make their sleeping environment as safe as possible.

as a short person i always found it impossible to put a sleeping baby in a cot at lowest base position without waking them. the extra few cm made it so much easier. I do however like co-sleepers best. i think they help prevent the temptation to bring baby or toddler into bed.

dropside cots seem to be available in the uk and i think if used properly and good quality they are as safe as any cot.

however i would only attempt a hack on any cot if you are a skilled carpenter but then you probably wouldn’t need to hack a cot.

ikea cribs are not drop cribs..which is good it is UNSAFE for babies..yeah it may save you a few seconds every time you put the baby in but its NOT worth it…most ikea beds have 2 mattress heights..one for NB to whenever your little one can sit on their own and then the lowest for older…iv’e had ikea cribs for my kids and it was NEVER a problem putting them in or out every night!dont risk your childs safety for a few seconds of convenience!! also please please please do not put any pillows,stuffed animals or blankets in your babys crib! its unsafe!!!

If it makes you feel any better, you won’t be making her crib every morning. There won’t be anything in there to make and you’ll be way too busy with more important things to change that fitted sheet on the days when it isn’t needed.

Also, the stationary cribs are made so the entire crib is lower to the ground, so you don’t need to lower the side. Give it a chance and you might find you like it. When we were crib shopping a few years ago, drop side cribs were still being sold and I was horrified by how flimsy they were and opted for a sturdy stationary crib. I am average height and it worked fine. Congratulations and Best Wishes!

As someone who works heavily in the juvenile product and durable nursery product industry – I concur with most everyone’s point. While many of us grew up OK, the pain of losing a child probably is not worth the X seconds or minutes you’re saving when making a crib or changing the sheets.

If those minutes are worth Y amount of dollars though, there do exist several products out there which comply with the recently updated federal regulations. These products often have features which are called “safety gates” – check Baby’s Dream Furniture…

Do *not* ever modify a crib!!! Serious safety issues and you void any and all warranties on the product. Like the others mentioned, drop-side cribs have been recalled due to infant deaths.Besides, you don’t “make a baby’s bed”. There shouldn’t be ANYTHING in the crib except a tight fitted sheet – no blankets, no stuffed animals, no bumpers, no pillows due to suffocation risk.

I second TracyKM. Babies just kick the covers off, or (God forbid) get tangled up in them. When we lived in warm places, the baby slept in a cotton zip-up pajama. When we lived in cold places, the baby slept in a cotton pajama, covered with a fleece zip-up pajama.But here’s a VERY helpful hint I learned from an experienced mother: always double-sheet the bed with a complete set (waterproof mattress pad and sheet), so when baby pees, poops, or vomits on the bed in the middle of the night, you only have to take off the top layers and you’ll have a fresh set already on the bed.Congratulations on your new member of your family!

Safety hazard for any moving parts. Also a newborn should just have a fitted sheet and mattress. No bumper, nothing else in the crib. When the weather is cool, swaddling is best. I believe there are two positions for the mattress one for a newborn and then lower for a toddler. You should be fine, my brother has this crib and loves it.

I had a crib with a side that lowered and honestly I hardly ever lowered the side, and the few times I did I would often forget to raise it again, oops! It looks like a great crib as is! Congrats on your new little one! I have a nephew coming soon

I must concur with everyone else. Major crib manufacturers have recalled, or created permanent modifications to all cribs with drop down sides. Once a baby learns to prop up and stand, they will hang on to the side and possibly jostle it out of position.

In the future however,when your child is older, you can probably come up with a way to convert it into a toddler/day bed by removing one side completely, or making a half-railing.

Yes, but I think we’ll see this change in the coming years. Already international companies like Ikea, Jacadi etc. are making cribs without moving sides.

Additionally, recent studies showing that crib bedding (bumpers, comforters, blankets etc.) are suffocation risks, mean that many are opting for nothing more than a fitted sheet and putting baby in a safer “sleep sack”, so there is no bed “to make”.

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